Dreams with Scenes of Rape and Possible Interpretations of Their Meaning: Victim, Villain or Witness?

Dreams involving scenes of rape are visions of abuse and violence where you may be present in the role or the victim, the rapist or the witness of such assault. The key factors in understanding why these dreams occur are the role you assume in these situations as well as feelings and emotions evoked in relation to other people appearing in the same dream. If dreams where you become a victim of rape recur consistently or if you experience these scenes frequently, you need to seek professional help to determine whether these dreams are the result of post-traumatic stress. Possible scenarios of dreams about rape can be divided into three broad categories.

Victim: If the dream about being a victim of rape is something you have experienced as a single event, it can reflect the way you are treated by other people around you, who may be exhibiting behavioral patterns such as humiliation, hostility or exploitation. These kinds of dreams will usually depict the rapist who is taking advantage of you as a faceless, unfamiliar or dark figure. The hidden nature of this image can be explained by the fact that people who act to humiliate or exploit you can still maintain what seems to be a normal relationship with you. Therefore, this type of dream about being a victim of rape should not be deemed as manifestation of actual aggression or physical harm by people in wake life, but rather a warning about being controlled or manipulated by these individuals. Needless to say that possible candidates for the role of such an aggressor may include an authoritarian supervisor at workplace, abusive spouse, insolent roommate or hostile neighbor who may attempt to exert power and control over you in everyday situations.

Villain: Scenarios of dreams about rape where you become the rapist are often related to rage and anger directed at a particular person who represents the rape victim in this dream. This could also be an indication of some unsolved issues or conflicts from the recent past you are still trying to cope or come to terms with. Commonly, the rape victim in this dream will also be represented by a faceless character or a person with indiscernible features. To successfully interpret and act on this dream you may want to identify the source and nature of anger or fury by reassessing your relationships with people around you and try to find an answer to the question why these angry feelings and emotions toward someone are still present deep inside your consciousness.

Witness: When people dream about being a witness of a rape, they become worried and get a feeling of being hopeless and unable to help the victim in the dream. Sometime intuition may suggest the kind of relationship between the victim and the offender and this, in turn, may point to your own state of being exploited, taken advantage of or targeted by anger and hostility in wake life. Witnessing an episode of rape in a dream could be a reflection of conscious effort to separate yourself from the trauma inflicted by an event from the past, but at the same time - inability to rid yourself of re-living and re-experiencing these episodes. Witnessing a scene of rape can also be a direct result of observing a situation in wake life when domination or hostility toward someone had left a vivid and lasting imprint in the dreamer’s memory.

No matter what possible scenarios and situations are experienced and who takes on what role in dreams involving rape, try to analyze your relationships with others and figure out what constitutes fears, angry feelings and inability to let go of these emotional aspects of your life. Balance your relationships so they are not escalated to conflicts, ultimatums or disagreements. Avoid direct confrontations or conflicts and learn how to deal with individuals who may try to overpower or control you to their advantage.